Lightweight Eats

In honor of our grill, we made the rare purchase of some veggie burgers. We're experimenting with brands at the moment, but for this, I used Amy's quarterpounder.

You'll also need some caramelized onions for this one. We've started keeping these around as a condiment, and I've been enjoying them in grain bowls. Some day when you plan to be around the house for several hours (Friday night movie in? rainy Sunday?), chop 5-6 onions, toss them with salt and a small bit of oil.

Layer them up to about three inches deep in a pan and cook over medium low heat until they are goopy and brown. The heat should be low enough that you don't have to pay attention.

I think this would also work in a slow cooker, and when we run out of this round of onions, I'll give it a try.

Finally, you'll need some tahini, fresh basil and something crunchy. I recommend fresh lettuce, peppers or pickles. (The latter would be really delicious, but we don't keep them on hand.)

First, toast your bread and your burger patty (or brown it in a pan/on the grill).

Next assemble:
Bread + tahini + basil + vegan burger patty + caramelized onions + something crunchy + tahini + bread

The creamy, nutty tahini contrasted with the sharp licorice of the basil, the sweetness of the onions and the meatiness of the patty makes for an incredible sandwich experience. Add the textural play of crisp toast, soft patty, and crunchy veggies and you've got yourself a darn good sandwich.

N.B.: Be sure to read the label on your veggie patty. Many of them contain eggs and/or dairy. Generally, the vegan ones are obviously labeled as vegan.

Last weekend's meal prep was so successful that we went 7 for 7 on our meal plan and finished off almost every thing in the fridge. Left after a week? One half gallon of almond milk, 1 cup of pre-cooked pasta, caramelized onions, an artichoke and maybe 8-10 stalks of celery.

I got these ones back in August. It's time to update.

It's been a while since I posted about my training. The season is broken up into a few major chunks. The first chunk was from January through NSR1 (or NSR2 for those people who raced in it, which was this past weekend).

Now that some of that selection has been completed, plans are starting to fall into place for the summer season, which lasts through the World Championships at the end of August. (Last summer, Canadian Henley marked the end of the summer season for me, as I wasn't vying for a spot at Worlds.)

It's been just over a year since I started training with CRC and I'm starting to see some real improvements—physically and, more importantly, mentally.

One of my big goals for the past year was to become a better athlete. I have always struggled with pulling back when the going gets tough. When I'm tired, I give 90% instead of 100%. This is especially true when I'm training by myself. I'm beginning to see that change. I'm completing more workouts, pushing the boundaries of my heart rate zones and increasing weights when I lift.

Having training partners and coaches that really care about your individual progress is really helpful. It was also helpful having such a positive experience at NSR1—at that race I felt like I was in the mix, which was encouraging, but not quite where I need to be, which was motivating.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to call myself an elite athlete, but I certainly feel that I've made progress in that direction.


This summer season, I want to capitalize on that athleticism. It's really starting this week and next. I've got two hard weeks, back-to-back. Most mornings start off with extensive endurance work: 75-100 minutes meant to push the limits of the anaerobic threshold. The afternoons follow up with a "short and easy" 60' run, or a challenging (but not impossible) weight lifting session.

It's a great opportunity to shift my mindset. Previously, I would approach these weeks warily. This time, I'm ready to attack the workouts. I've completed three of the five hardest workouts this week. I'm starting to make the connection between training like this consistently and being really, really fast. I know that the fitness I've built up over the past year has allowed me to get here, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun going forward.


As summer starts, I can also expect more wind. I've been on land every day this week because of it, and I expect a lot more weeks like it. As we get more lightweight women in the club, bigger boats (doubles and quads!) become a possibility; bigger boats can handle rougher conditions. It's also good for me to reconnect with the erg and the weights; and running certainly helps me stay at weight.

Like last summer, it will be over before I know it; and then we'll be down to three years before Rio.. every workout, I'm chasing down my dreams.

Things have been picking up at work for both Dan and I. Add rowing, gardening, scuba diving (for Dan) and general life to the mix and we're suddenly quite busy. Still, eating well is a top priority for us. So this weekend, while I was doing laundry, cleaning the house and telecommuting to work, I also put in some time by the stove.

On Friday night, while Dan packed for a scuba trip, I was busy in the kitchen cooking up pasta and rice, all while getting our tofu pressed/marinating, chopping broccoli and cleaning up dishes from dinner.

Tofu, black rice and pasta. That giant pot is full of black bean soup.

Saturday was all about sweat and tears—onions galore!

It's that time of year. Graduation.

I remember the triumphant joy when I realized nobody could ever take that away from me. And when I visited Princeton, I went out of my way to proudly walk out of the Fitz Randolph gate.

I have grown up a lot since I left school, and I've had a lot of time to reflect on my life so far and on who I am and want to be. There are many things I think I did right, and many I would have done differently.

High school seniors:
You made it. It seems high school has become a tracking system into college, rather than an educational platform. Watching the girls I coached talk about grades, SAT scores and college admissions, I realize that high school is no longer about understanding, but about getting the grade.

I beg of you, don't let college be the same. Spend this summer rethinking your approach to school. Whatever degree you choose to obtain, think of college as an opportunity to learn. You will learn facts, figures, dates and formulae. But also learn how to think. Learn to be passionate. Learn to make choices for yourself—not your parents, friends or professors.

Yes, grades can be important. But when you write a resume, you can leave your college GPA out. It matters much more who you know and how passionate you are—so put as much time and effort into developing relationships and interests as completing your problem sets.

And along those lines, decide your priorities. You can't have it all. It may seem like your peers do, but I promise that you have something they don't: a connection to your family, a full night of sleep or 1000 facebook friends, perhaps. To me, sleep was important, until I met Dan. Then, I sacrificed many a full night to talk and laugh in the dorm stairwells.


College seniors:
If you already have a job, congratulations. If you don't, congratulations—take the free time to find a company that you are passionate about. Go to as many interviews as possible—not to get the job, but to figure out what companies have to offer you. Practice interviewing your friends and family, so you know what it's like being on the other side.

You can give yourself this luxury of time by choosing to live below your means. Certainly spend money on the things you value, but don't spend money on that which you don't. Maybe you value organic produce or being able to watch Comedy Central whenever you want; maybe you'd rather spend time out of your home than have a nice one.

Remember: nobody has time to judge you anymore. In your life til now, somebody has either been tasked with judging you (your parents) or paid to judge you (your teachers). No more! You can choose to love the rain and long lines, to only eat purple vegetables, or to say hello to everybody you pass. Certainly college was an opportunity to reinvent yourself, but there were always constraints.

Your constraints are gone. Embrace the terrifying freedom and make tough choices.

Oh, protein powder. Such a contentious thing.

I've definitely tried my fair share of vegan protein powders. I'm definitely not an expert, because I'd rather not eat enough of them to become an expert, but I'll add my two cents to the myriad of online opinions.

General pros and cons:
+ much easier than pressing and frying tofu or eating 4 cups of broccoli
+ usually provide complete proteins, often with no limiting amino acids
+ can be added to a lot of foods
- can taste tremendously terrible
- work best in sweet applications, and I'd rather save my sweets for things that are actually tasty
- are usually very processed

Conventional Protein Powders
My two favorite protein powders are the SunWarrior Vanilla

http://www.sunwarrior.com/product-info/warrior-blend/

and any kind of generic hemp protein powder.

Have you heard about Michael Pollan's new book? It talks about home cooking, and why it's important. It's started a whole conversation about how to get Americans back into the kitchen.

Growing up, we had family dinner every night. Despite falling right in the middle of The Simpsons, dinner was served between 6 and 6:15pm daily. (My dad was not amused when afternoon crew practice interfered with dinner timing.)

And, almost every night, that meal was home cooked.

Dan and I have continued the tradition, although we are a little bit more lax about the timing. Oftentimes, dinner is on the table less than 20 minutes after we arrive home. Sometimes, we even eat completely different meals. For example, last week, Dan had lettuce wraps with rice, chopped veggies and peanut sauce, while I enjoyed a grain bowl with quinoa, mushrooms, snap peas and peanut sauce.

How do we do it? It's not as hard as it seems.

A few of my tips:
1. Always make extra.
The rice and quinoa? Those were leftovers from other meals. And later this week, we plan to have black bean soup from a batch big enough for two dinners and two lunches apiece.

2. Multitask.
That black bean soup? We let it bubble away on the back burner while we were cooking, eating and cleaning up another dinner.
While I'm pan frying something, I often turn the heat to medium. Sure, it cooks more slowly, but it doesn't require constant attention. While the broccoli slowly heats, I can make a tasty tahini dressing or begin cleaning up.
Slow cookers and rice cookers do the same thing: they multitask while you're off at work.

3. Share the work.
Dan is our official saucier. Sure, I can brown garlic without burning it, and get a beautiful crust on a batch of tofu. But Dan is the master of sauces. So while I tend to grains, greens and proteins, he dances about the kitchen fetching soy sauce, nutritional yeast, lemons, oils, herbs, spices and more. He always make a big batch—enough for lunch and maybe a second dinner.

4. Think simple.
Ever been to foodgawker? If that was your only source of recipes, you'd think that every meal had 15 steps and 25 ingredients. Not true. Many of my favorite meals seem too simple to share with the world: